Old New Flat On A Shoestring Budget

[kirinshibori 0]

Yep, hacked the kitchen walls to:

1. have an open concept kitchen

2. create a spacious feel

3. allow wind from the kitchen windows during the NW monsoon to ventilate the rest of the house

4. brighten up both kitchen and living/dining

Feels like a Japanese style house! Dis you hack your kitchen walls?

[kirinshibori 0]

Thanks Valerie!

Nope, no glass behind the ash strips. Other than for aesthetics, the purpose of the strips are for ventilation for the shoe cabinet, washer/dryer stack, sink and hob, so no backing boards for them.

Hi Kirin, I think they are very nicely design... and I really love the look! I'm just curious whether there is a transparent glass behind the horizontal wooden planks of your cabinet door?

[ahlipz 0]

I like the matching concept for your kitchen, shoes cabinet as well as TV console.

Lot of wood elements in your house

[star70 0]

hihi

may i know which brand of ceiling fan did you installed?

[kirinshibori 0]

Hi star70,

I bought Crestar fans from A Lighting in Geylang.

55" Skylite Alumi SO housing with black acrylic blades for the living room.

50" Rainlite Alumi SO housing with black acrylic blades for the 3 bedrooms.

hihi

may i know which brand of ceiling fan did you installed?

[steadfast 0]

hi

your house really turned out great i must say. i notice that you installed a ceiling fan for your living room and did not install any cove/l-box or track lighting. is your living room light source only from the ceiling fan and also the downlight?

if its not too much trouble to ask, do you mind putting up a photo of your living room with all the lights on at night?

getting my home soon too and am not planning to get cove/l-box lighting but installing ceiling fan without light. so im at lost now as to what type of lighting will be sufficient. thanks in advance.

[baobeimamii 0]

Hi,

really like the outcome of your reno; simplicity yet functional!

may i know the cost for the vinyl tiles you used for your kitchen?

you also mentioned about wood-like tiles, any suggestion if this is better than laying vinyl?

thanks!

Thanks! Yep, all laminates except bathroom (tiles), kitchen (vinyl) and foyer (tiles). So far no issues, maintenance is pretty straightforward, just vacuum then mop.

[piknik 1]

Ikea Toftbo bath mat at $19.90 each.

thank you very much.

[kirinshibori 0]

Thanks for the compliment.

Let me try to explain how I designed the lights...

There are 2 layers, General and Task lighting. As I have an open kitchen concept, the kitchen, dining, living and foyer areas are combined.

General lighting are all using cool daylight CFL and consists of 2 kitchen ceiling lights (single 24W each) and the fan light (dual 18W).

Task lighting are all using warm white, and include CFL and halogen bulbs. The foyer has a single 25W G9 halogen, the island has 2 pendant lamps with single 20W CFLs each, kitchen sink has 2 track spotlights with single 25W G9 halogen each, dining table has 2 pendant lamps with single 18W CFLs each and my arc lamp has a single 20W CFL.

You are right that I have no cove or l-box. There are 2 tracks, one over the kitchen sink and the other over the dining table. I am not sure if these pictures address your question. But if you have further questions, I'm happy to share what I know.

hi

your house really turned out great i must say. i notice that you installed a ceiling fan for your living room and did not install any cove/l-box or track lighting. is your living room light source only from the ceiling fan and also the downlight?

if its not too much trouble to ask, do you mind putting up a photo of your living room with all the lights on at night?

getting my home soon too and am not planning to get cove/l-box lighting but installing ceiling fan without light. so im at lost now as to what type of lighting will be sufficient. thanks in advance.

[kirinshibori 0]

Thanks!

The vinyl tiles are $5.95 psf excl GST and skirting. Got it from Evorich during one of the expo shows. I used the faux wood ceramic tiles for the bathrooms.

Kitchen vinyl tiles.

Transition from dining room laminates to kitchen vinyl tiles.

Bathroom faux wood ceramic tiles.

Close up of laminates (left) and faux wood ceramic tiles (right).

If you're the type that needs to wash your kitchen floor regularly with water, go for ceramic tiles. The vinyl tiles are waterproof, but since they are floating and not attached permanently to the sub-floor, regular washing is not recommended as water will get trapped between the vinyl tile and the sub-floor. We prefer the feel of the vinyl tiles than the ceramic tiles though, in terms of both texture and warmth.

Hi,

really like the outcome of your reno; simplicity yet functional!

may i know the cost for the vinyl tiles you used for your kitchen?

you also mentioned about wood-like tiles, any suggestion if this is better than laying vinyl?

thanks!

[steadfast 0]

Thank you so much kirinshibori for the photos and the detailed explanation. need some time to digest that and completely understand as im still reading up on lighting design.

ahh, going crazy over your bathroom faux wood ceramic tiles! love it so much. been planning to get that instead of laminate flooring. tried looking through your thread on where you got the tiles but don't think you mentioned it. would you mind sharing? thank you!

[kirinshibori 0]

Where else but Hafary, haha... In any case, that was where Shaun brought me to.

But seriously, I think all major tile stockists have these faux wood ceramic tiles. They come in 60cm x 15cm dimension, and creating a good gradient for water drainage in the bathroom is somewhat tricky. That is part of the reason why my shower area has mundane 30cm x 30cm tiles.

Thank you so much kirinshibori for the photos and the detailed explanation. need some time to digest that and completely understand as im still reading up on lighting design.

ahh, going crazy over your bathroom faux wood ceramic tiles! love it so much. been planning to get that instead of laminate flooring. tried looking through your thread on where you got the tiles but don't think you mentioned it. would you mind sharing? thank you!

[steadfast 0]

cool! have to agree if there's drainage problem, then no choice gotta use other tiles for the shower area. nonetheless, it still looks fantastic to me.

i only know 2 other tile shops besides hafary, soon bee huat and white horse ceramics. will visit all 3 to see which one offers the best deals. thanks again kirinshibori!

[bizkid76 0]

No offence.

The initial impression i got is - japanese style. Spacious. Bright. relaxing, esp with alot of cut-outs from magazines. (i do recognise a few pic i seen somewhere b4)

The end result - very ikea, cramped and its totally different from what u portray.

The kitchen cabinet has too much stripes.

It looks like the place has been stayed for a couple of years. Perhaps u should ask yr ID to beautify it.

[jshome 1]

You have an impressive kitchen, and i'm surprise your carpentary is less than $10k. Usually for your ash strip design, it cost alot more.?